Memories
by Raine Haruto
Summary: A photograph, old and weathered by time. It had been quite a few years since the photo was taken, enough time for her to forget. It was enough for her to not remember.
1. Memories

Memories

A photograph, old and weathered by time. Though it was not the first thing that she had noticed while doing her spring cleaning, it was certainly an oddity, jammed in between the two old pieces of furniture up in the attic of her parents' house. It had been years since she'd set foot inside the dusty attic, but not so long ago that since she'd lived in the house. She had agreed to help her parents clean the house while they were out of town to celebrate the anniversary of their marriage. Certainly, she did not expect to have ever set foot in the attic, if it wasn't for the list her mother had given her of the rooms that seriously needed cleaning. But back to the topic of the photograph she'd found. She'd set down the broom and dust pan to the floor and carefully plucked the photo from between the narrow space between the wooden furniture. It was covered with a good layer of dust on both sides. She blew on it, coughing and sneezing as the dust gathered together in a cloud just before her face. Waving away the dust, she took a good look at the picture. Her eyes flew open wide as a small smile formed on her lips.

In the photo was a waving Suzume, holding tightly to a bear mascot, a smiling Ichiko, posing for the camera, and right there in the middle was herself, just standing there smiling happily with her friends. It was a picture of when she was younger and much happier and naïve, back when she was insecure and unsure of what to do with her life. It had been quite a few years since the photo was taken, enough time for her to forget. It was enough for her to not remember.

She could barely recall what had happened back then as she stared at the picture, but a nagging feeling at the back of her mind told her it was something important. That there was something she desperately needed to remember, something that she should not have forgotten. She did not realize when, but sometime during the years, she had slowly forgotten, slowly blocked out the memories from that point in time from herself. And now, it was back to haunt her, to remind her, to forcefully make her remember, to understand, to accept.

Tears slowly formed in her eyes, blurring the image of the photo from her sight. Slowly, ever so slowly, the tears fell downwards, and dripped on the photo; a growing piercing pain started in her chest, overwhelming her, as she grabbed at it, falling forwards and curling into a ball. The tears continued to fall from her eyes, she gasped as her locked memories slowly fought to resurface and the pain in her chest grew. Finally, one word broke through and appeared at the forefront of her mind, a distinct name. She whimpered as she fell unconscious.

"Munto."


	2. Slipping

Memories

Munto. One word, no, a name, an overly familiar sounding name. The feeling of warmth spread throughout her body as she slowly, caringly caressed the sound of the name on her lips. The image of bright red hair being blown by a soft breeze filled her hazed mind. What was it? Who was it? She could only form answerless questions in her mind, questioning to herself, 'why?'

She was broken out of her reverie at the sound of her mother's voice calling her. It sounded so distant to her, even as she looked up at the worried expression her mothered showed. Her mother was saying something to her, she could tell by the moving lips adoring her mother's lips, but no sound reached her ears. She was going farther, recoiling into her mind, slowly leaving behind the material world.

"Yumemi!"

The sudden and sharp call of her name startled her, and she was once again back from the recesses of her confused mind. She turned her head back at her worried mother, giving her a half-hearted smile, reassuring her that she was fine. That she could walk back to her apartment safely and without drifting off again. It wasn't as convincing as she had hoped, but nevertheless her mother let her go with a hug and whispered reassurances.

The walk back was made longer than necessary. She all but dragged her feet along the pavement, looking up at the sky, eyes unfocused and lost in thought. There was supposed to be something up in the sky, the thought came unbidden to her, something big, something grand. She stopped walking, eyes still facing heavenward, her brows knitted together and her forehead creased. She felt, she knew, there was definitely something up there. A prickling at the back of her mind brought up the image of a floating island, huge and grand while basking in the glow of the setting sun from behind. The island was looming forebodingly yet majestically above the lumbering city below, her city. It was beautiful sight to behold, yet the image was hauntingly disturbing. There was something about the floating island that made her cringe, as if shying away from the island, from the image and from the entire memory itself.

Yumemi shook her head once again, silently laughing to herself about how she was slowly losing her sanity, dredging up unbelievable and fake memories of seeing floating islands basked in the sunset. It was just some precarious dream that she had when she was a teenager, nothing to mull over, she supposed. She started walking again, arriving home without anymore thoughts to the strange image of the floating island and of striking red hair being blown in the wind; and most definitely not of that strange name, Munto.

"Munto…"


	3. Drifting

Memories

A pair of molten gold eyes appeared in her mind this time, sharp and daunting, staring right at her. They were so familiar, and yet so alien to her. The expression in the eyes changed, and she felt a pang of sadness at how they looked at her, as if silently pleading. Pleading, but for what? Yumemi grabbed her head as a sudden pressure began pushing her head about, she couldn't help but cry out in pain as the pressure became too much. Panting, she reached a hand forward, guiding her towards the sofa in the living room and promptly fell onto its' soft cushioning. Slowly, and painfully, she opened her eyes as the pain receded, to stare at her white-washed ceiling.

Another image invaded her mind, this time it was a face, set with those beautiful yet sad golden eyes and that striking crimson red hair, softly blown by an invisible wind. What she noticed most were the pointed ears placed beside the head, they seemed so strange on a person, but so perfect when connected to this face. That face, she felt that she should know who that face belonged to, and yet couldn't place a name to it. A space of silence as she just stared at the image of the face in her mind, then a word involuntarily sprang forth to the forefront of her mind. Munto.

Yes, that was right, Munto. The name felt so right when placed to that face, it had to be so. She smiled, the image in her mind morphed once again and a body was attached to the face. Long and lean, a trace of muscle shown along the white of the fabric of his sleeves. She couldn't help but stare in wonder at the image presented before her mind's eye, but as soon as the image showed up, it flickered and disappeared, as if never there in the first place. She had discarded it once again from her head; it was not supposed to be there. It wasn't real, convincing herself that it was merely something her imagination created to compensate for her lack of memories. Yes, that had to be the only explanation for the blank state for that part of her memories; because he wasn't real, because he wasn't there, just because. Was he?

She sat up, sighed and stood, heading towards her room and flopped onto the bed facedown. She closed her eyes, while snuggling into her pillow, and sighed in content as she drifted off into blissful slumber.

There, it was those eyes again, looking at her with a sense of sorrow. Painful, it was so painful to her to be looked at with those emotion filled eyes. Stop, she wanted it to stop, she wanted those eyes to be filled with laughter, filled with happiness, to smile at her. She wanted them to tell her it was alright, that everything was fine; to make her feel safe, secure…

"Yumemi."

The sudden yet soft whisper of her name floated through her senses, filling her with peace. She smiled faintly in her sleep, she was safe.

"Thank you… Munto."


	4. Dreaming

Memories

It was a dream; it was all just a dream. Everything that she had been experiencing the past few days was just a dream, a figment of her imagination. Nothing like what she dreamed up had happened; it was definitely not possible for such a thing to occur. Islands couldn't float in the sky, above the city, and people definitely didn't have long and pointed ears; but then, why? Why did it hurt her so much to deny those things?

Tears started to fill her eyes once again; as she grabbed her sides, a throbbing pain starting in her chest. Doubled over and crying softly, she whispered that name over and over again, as if in desperate prayer; praying for salvation.

"Munto… Munto… Munto!"

It was endless, that name, that tall figure, that face and those deep golden eyes, absorbing that it took in into its depths. They struck her to the core of her very being, asking, demanding, and pleading for her to remember once again. But what were they asking her to remember?

A role; an important role. There was something important about that, about a role. All those images appearing in head had something to do with her missing memories, she felt it; no she knew it. Taking deep, even breaths, she closed her eyes and started to filter through all the images she had been receiving from the depths of her mind. Going through each image slowly, inspecting every little detail she could. There was something within these images that made her feel nostalgic, much like the feeling after waking up from a peaceful dream.

The floating island appeared once again, this time, bits and pieces of it crumbling and drifting down towards the city below. A dark and blurry figure moved about within the dust clouds blowing about, it was moving closer and closer to her. Munto! It was that familiar yet alien person, the one that plagued her mind for the past few days.

"Munto!" She heard her voice call out to the solitary figure before, images of her arms reaching forward, trying to grab onto the young man. "Munto!"

He turned and looked at her, the grim expression that was on his face suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a shocked look. Then, that expression too, faded away to the small smile that graced his face, happiness shone within his beautiful golden orbs. He opened his mouth to speak, but what he said was muted out by her mind.

Yumemi felt herself give the man before a wide smile, tears trailing down her face as her body lurched forward. Somehow she felt what he said at the back of her mind.

"Come, Yumemi."


	5. Awakening

Memories

She remembered. Everything, from the floating islands that made up the Heavens, to Gus the Outsider and his mysterious powers, from Ryuely the Prophetess of the Magical Kingdom and him, Munto. She remembered; her role as the Girl of Destiny, to return the flow of Akuto to the Heavens, to become the source herself. There was nothing left unlocked, left half remembered; her own Pandora's Box had been opened. The anguish, despair, loathing and confusion filled her senses all at once in a flurry, striking every part of her body emotionally and leaving her heaving for breath. Tears cascaded down her face in a flood of emotional backlash before she could register it all.

She was left there to whimper for a few quiet moments before the pain stopped, and she was calmed down by another flood; however, this time the feeling felt warm and caring, as if softly whispering reassurances into her ear in a gentle voice, soothing her wounded self. She smiled happily, almost gratefully, at the sense of peace that she felt surrounding her, it was hope.

Hope for a better future, hope for the safety of both worlds, and the greatest hope she had before losing all her memories, the hope of meeting Munto again. The hope of meeting Munto again was kept deep in her heart, silently praying each day that he would come and meet her. Even when she forgot, when her memories were completely erased, her heart continued its silent prayer in earnest, bidding her to continue dreaming, to watch the sky each day in wonder.

She frowned, eyebrows knitting together in concentration as she racked her mind to find the cause of her memory loss. It wasn't as if Munto, the Heavens and having the fate of two worlds on her shoulders was something that she would likely to forget. So the question was why? And how?

A flash of piercing brown eyes glared at her, the flow of Akuto glowing around them, a hand appeared in front of her face a sole finger pointed at the space in between her eyes. Words whispered from the mouth of the figure before her and then she was falling backwards into darkness. A single name appeared in her mind as she recognized the figure before completely losing herself into the dark. Gntarl.

Yumemi's eyes flashed open as the memory reasserted itself inside her once missing memories. She sighed as she looked down at the weathered photo that instigated the return of her memories, smiling softly as she carefully placed it inside one of her many photo albums, specifically the one from her high school days. She started to tear once again, the loneliness and aching of her heart that she felt and suppressed for years starting to weigh on her. It was too much, she wanted to see him so badly, even if was just a quick glimpse, that was fine. Unable to keep it all in, she let it out all, wailing loudly, pulling her pillow close to herself in search of even the tiniest of comfort.

"Yumemi."

She stopped mid-wail at the voice, hoping and praying constantly, as she turned very slowly. She did not want to be hurt again, especially if what she heard was merely her imagination.

"Yumemi. Turn around and face me."

There, it was the voice again. This time, with a command, she sniffled a bit, before whipping her head the rest of the way around, her body following behind. Tears started at her eyes once again as she saw the sight before her. It wasn't a dream nor was it her imagination! He was truly there before her, standing ever so proudly as he always had. He held out a hand towards her.

"Come, Yumemi."

She could only smile happily, the tears flowing down her face as she stood and flew towards him, softly whispering her answer.

"Yes, Munto."

A/N: I know that usually don't do this thing with the notes at the end, but just in case it's asked. No I did not go and research the names of the characters and their official spelling, so I go with what I remembered.

Another thing, for those still reading this end note; should I continue this with a "sequel" or just go on with some other story?

Anyway, thank you for reading and hope that you won't have to see another 'author's note' ever again (unless you WANT one).


End file.
